Tilt Segment Bearing Gap Adjustment via Movable Pin
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Solution Overview
Problem
Tilting pad bearings face challenges in adjusting gaps between the sleeve and the tilting segment, leading to inefficiencies in supporting shafts due to manufacturing complexities and assembly difficulties, particularly in applications like turbochargers where gap inconsistencies result in low efficiency or mechanical failure.
Innovation Solution
A tilting pad bearing design featuring a pin element receptacle with a recess in the sleeve allows for adjustable gap settings between the sleeve and the tilting segment, enabling easy adjustment of the gap without requiring a predetermined shank length or manufacturing a specific slope, and includes a spring element for enhanced support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional tilting pad bearings use fixed gap design with predetermined shank length, then manufacturing is simplified, but adjustment flexibility and positioning precision are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The pin element is designed to be movable within the pin element receptacle along the circumferential direction, allowing the tilting segment to be adjusted to different positions. This dynamic capability enables gap adjustment between the sleeve and tilting segment while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure, directly resolving the contradiction between adaptability and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The bearing is divided into modular components: sleeve, tilting segment, pin element, and pin element receptacle. This segmentation allows independent adjustment of the tilting segment position via the movable pin element, providing gap adjustment flexibility without requiring complex integrated designs, thus balancing adaptability and structural simplicity.
2Ease of operation
If tilting pads are made with detachable pin elements, then ease of assembly and maintenance is improved, but reliability may be reduced due to additional connection points
Solution Approach 1:
The pin element is extracted as a separate, detachable component from the tilting segment, allowing easy removal and replacement. The pin element receptacle provides a dedicated receiving structure that ensures proper positioning and secure connection, maintaining reliability while significantly improving assembly ease and maintenance accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The pin element acts as an intermediary component between the tilting segment and the pin element receptacle. This intermediary design allows for easy assembly and disassembly while the receptacle structure ensures reliable connection during operation, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and connection reliability.
3Productivity
If precise gap adjustment is enabled through movable pin elements, then bearing efficiency is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The pin element receptacle includes a slope on its base that automatically guides the pin element to a predetermined position during assembly. This self-positioning mechanism reduces the need for high manufacturing precision in the pin element itself, while still enabling precise gap adjustment for optimal bearing efficiency, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and manufacturing precision requirements.
4Measurement precision
If the pin element receptacle includes a slope for positioning, then assembly precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning slope is integrated directly into the base of the pin element receptacle, merging the positioning function with the existing receptacle structure. This approach achieves precise positioning of the pin element without adding separate positioning mechanisms or increasing overall device complexity, effectively resolving the contradiction between measurement precision and device complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
comprising a tilting segment bearing (7): a tilting segment (8) which has a pin element (9); a sleeve (13) wherein the sleeve (13) has at least one pin element receptacle (15) with a recess (21) in the circumferential direction, wherein the pin element (9) is receptive in the recess (21) and movable along the recess (21) in the circumferential direction for adjusting at least one gap (16, 17) of the tilting segment (7).